The desperation antics are reaching a whole new level
Last month, Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of Trump’s most sycophantic minions, surprised us by announcing that he would vote for the House’s War Powers Resolution. Gaetz pointed out that the resolution did not criticize Trump, even though it was a response to Trump’s recent military action against Iran. A senior White House official nevertheless called it “super uncool” and “quite unwise” and warned that Trump would ignore Gaetz’s “kneelings in the snow,” according to the Washington Post. This cryptic and sanctimonious statement was an apparent reference to how, in 1077, King Henry IV prayed outside in the snow for days before Pope Gregory VII would forgive him. In retaliation, Trump then denied Gaetz a role on his impeachment defense team, even though he had been considered a top contender.
Now that Trump has been acquitted, Gaetz is trying hard to get back in Trump’s good graces. Last night, Gaetz tweeted that he is pursuing an ethics complaint against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for ripping up Trump’s State of the Union speech, which Pelosi described at her news conference today as a “manifesto of mistruths.” Unfortunately for Gaetz, his move is so baseless and pathetically sycophantic that #MattGaetzIsATool began immediately trending on Twitter.
In the meantime, the New York Post last night presented a supposedly damning revelation about Pelosi’s behavior at the State of the Union. It appears that video footage shows that Pelosi “pre-ripped” Trump’s speech by making small tears in the papers so that they would rip easily when Trump finished delivering it. This evidence is supposed to make us rethink Pelosi as a phony rather than a hero. Eric Trump, for example, tweeted, “Well, this was staged! Shocking” followed by an eye-rolling emoji.
The thing is, this “shocking” revelation accomplishes the opposite, painting Pelosi in an even better light while taking the wind out of Gaetz’s pathetic sails. Pelosi’s “pre-ripping” shows that her idea of shredding Trump’s speech came to her at least several minutes, if not much longer, before she did it, proving that she was in full control of her emotions. Despite the fact that Trump refused to shake Pelosi’s outstretched hand before he began his speech, Pelosi did not fly into a rage like Trump would have surely done. On the contrary, Pelosi kept her cool and ripped Trump’s speech because she wanted to — not because she lost her composure.
What we learned from all this is not too surprising, yet it is nonetheless inspiring: Matt Gaetz is a desperate tool, Donald Trump is a bitter buffoon, and Nancy Pelosi is still the shrewd and unflappable leader we have always known her to be. Pelosi has exhibited the remarkable ability to live rent-free in Trump’s head while not allowing him to get under her skin. Hopefully, she won’t have to do it for much longer.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month